Over 1 crore tourists visited J&K till June this year
DOGRA HERALD BUREAU
New Delhi, JULY 24
Terrorists active in Jammu and Kashmir will either land in jail or be sent to ‘jahannum’ (hell), Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday while asserting that the Modi government has zero tolerance for terrorism.
Rai was replying to a supplementary question from Congress MP Pramod Tiwari.
Terrorist activities witnessed recently will soon end, the minister said. “They (terrorists) will not succeed in their design,” he added.
In the past few days, 28 terrorists have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir, and some security personnel have also lost their lives, which is very unfortunate, Rai said.
According to the minister, security forces have killed about 900 terrorists in the region after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
“Modi government has zero tolerance for terrorism. We will end terrorism. They (terrorists) will be either in jail or jahannum… I want to assure the House,” Rai said.
Between 2004 and 2014 when the UPA was ruling at the Centre, there were 7,217 incidents of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. The number came down to 2,259 from 2014 when the BJP was voted to power, and July 21 this year, Rai said.
“These should not have happened. It is unfortunate, but they (the opposition) should not do politics over it,” the minister said.
In 2019, the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Rai told the House that 2,829 citizens and security personnel lost their lives between 2004 and 2014. This number has come down by 67 per cent since 2014. Besides, there is also a reduction of 69 per cent in terror incidents.
People in Jammu and Kashmir are now living in a peaceful environment, and there is a full guarantee of security, he said.
In a written reply to a starred question, Rai said the tourism sector in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed unprecedented growth post-abrogation of Art 370.
The total tourist visits in 2020 stood at 34,70,834.
The total tourist number increased to over 1.13 crore in 2021, nearly 1.89 crore in 2022, and over 2.11 crore last calendar year.
This year till June, the total number of tourists who have visited J&K reached more than 1.08 crore.
“The Government of Jammu and Kashmir has reported that several measures have been taken that led to significant improvement in the tourism sector,” Rai said.
Listing out the measures, he said the government has notified Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Policy 2020.
It has provided the status of industry to the tourism sector for availing incentives under the Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Policy- 2021.
The UT has notified the Homestay guidelines to accommodate the increasing number of tourists and give benefits to the locals from the economic gains of the tourism sector.
“The Government of Jammu and Kashmir has reported that…, the contribution of Tourism in Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has increased from 7.84 per cent in FY 2019-20 to 8.47 per cent in FY 2022-23,” Rai said.
The tourism sector has recorded an annual average growth rate of 15.13 per cent during the last three years.
